Gillian and I headed down to Maple Leaf Gardens to watch the 11th and 12th draws of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling Players Championship. First up were the mens draw.

Glenn Howard was playing in the feature game on Sheet C against Reid Carruthers and won 7-2.

Brad Jacobs lost 5-2 to Charley Thomas.

Mike McEwen beat John Shuster 6-3.

Brad Jacobs.

The women were up in Draw 12. Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew.

Jennifer Jones was the feature game against Val Sweeting.

Rachel Homan.

Jennifer Jones taking a commercial break.

Rachel Homan was playing Silvana Tirinzoni from Switzerland.

This was the second time in a row Gillian and I have watched Homan lose in person. They fell 6-2 after Tirinzoni stole 5 points over the last four ends.

Crazy beard guy rooting for Team Paetz. This is Hans Madsen who is from Yorkton, SK and is at a lot of curling events with his beard dyed in different colours.

The Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts was held last weekend at the Brampton Curling Club. The tournament determines who would represent Ontario at the Scotties in Grande Prairie, Alberta next month. For the most part the teams competing are relatively unknowns to the casual curling observer. The big names were Team Homan and Team Middaugh. Gillian wanted to go and watch the weekend games, the other girls were in study mode for exams. I bought two weekend passes for the page playoff games and the semi and final on Sunday.

We missed the Page 1 vs 2 game on Saturday afternoon as Gillian had to work. We started with the Page 3 vs 4game Saturday night. It featured Team Hanna from Ottawa and Team Tippin from Woodstock. They set up temporary seating on one of the sheets for spectators to watch up close.

Jenn Hanna the Skip for Team Hanna.

Team Hanna Vice Brit O’Neill.

There was a good crowd.

The final score was 7-3 for Team Hanna, they were on to the semi-finals Sunday morning.

Gillian looking forward to Sunday’s final.

It was back to the Brampton Curling Club on Sunday morning for the semi-final game between Team Hanna and Team Harrison from Mississauga. The ice maker.

We were thinking Claudia should make a couple of these hats.

Team Hanna lead Karen Sagle.

Jacqueline Harrison, the skip for Team Harrison.

It was a close game throughout with Team Harrison leading most of the way.

In the end it came down to the last shot in the 10th and Harrison missed on their attempt resulting in a steal of two and a 6-5 victory for Team Hanna.

Gillian and I had a couple of hours between games, originally we were going to go somewhere for lunch, but after sitting out on the ice for most of the morning game, we thought why go outside in the cold again. So we ate at the club, they had food available and it was reasonably priced.

Gillian and I had seats in the front row towards the far end. We had a blanket to sit on and were able to reserve our seats for the finals. If you were watching the games on Sportsnet you may have seen us.  Gillian is a big Rachel Homan fan so we were out early to watch them practice.

Sarah Weagle the Lead for Team Homan.

You could tell early on that Team Homan were not on their game.

The game went back and forth until the 5th end.

A measurement in the 6th end to count one for Team Hanna.

Jenn Hanna out curled Rachel Homan. Stealing 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to all but seal the victory.

Team Homan had almost no chance heading into the 10th, needing to steal 3 to force an extra end. She managed to steal one, but victory and the trip to the Scotties went to Team Hanna.

The final score was 10-8.

Team Hanna celebrating the win.

The girls and I headed down to The Mattamy Athletic Centre at old Maple Leaf Gardens for the Grand Slam of Curling Players Championship. Gillian came in from school and we met her on the GO Train.

Our seats for Draw 7 were on the east side and the game closest to us was Kevin Koe against Mike McEwen.

The feature game (i.e. on tv) was Heather Nedohin against Eve Muirhead.

Eve Muirhead’s rink beat Nedohin 8-3.

Kevin Koe releasing the rock before the hog line.

Koe sitting three for the time being. He eventually fell to Mike McEwen’s rink 7-5.

Brad Gushue won his game.

We had to clear out before Draw 8. While we were waiting we hung out at the Loblaws and watched curling teams go in and out. For Draw 8, we were on the west side and the closest game was Jennifer Jones against Team Feltscher from Switzerland.

Anna Sidorova of Russia.

The feature game of Draw 8 started out as Rachel Homan against Val Sweeting, it only lasted five ends before Team Homan conceded. Then they switched to the Jennifer Jones game as the feature game.

Here are the girls with Jennifer Jones, she was all smiles after winning 6-5 in extra ends.

The girls with Jill Officer.

And Dawn McEwen.

And Kaitlyn Lawes.

Gillian with Rachel Homan.

After the game we had dinner across the street at Daio Japanese Restaurant. It was back on the GO Train and then we drove Gillian back to Hamilton.